Dead on Mars

Chapter 112: Sol Hundred and Twelve, Flowers in Bloom

Tang Yue opened the door to the garage. As the Mars Wanderer had been driven away by Tomcat, the garage was mostly empty. It was perfect for a workshop. Tang Yue placed the water trough on the ground, then returned to carry the RTG over.

The conditions in Kunlun Station were extremely limited, so Tang Yue could only use what was available to him. He sat on the ground with the RTG in front of him. He then covered himself with a large insulation blanket, forming a simple tent with him as the supporting rod. This was to ensure that the thermals were maintained since the RTG’s heat wouldn’t disperse that easily within the small space of the blanket.

The water trough, compressed biscuits, plate, water cup, measuring cylinder, rod, and gauze were placed in front of Tang Yue. Due to the poor lighting in the garage, Tang Yue had switched on the headlamps of the Radiant Armor.

Tang Yue had brought six compressed biscuits. Under ideal conditions, these biscuits could provide him with 180 grams of Vitamin C. But as there weren’t many, it wasn’t enough to last him until the tomatoes bore fruit. Therefore, Tang Yue had to plan the rationing of the Vitamin C over the next two months.

He prepared to replenish his body with 200 grams of Vitamin C every day for the coming week. This would expend about 47 biscuits, using up about half of the total. However, this was forced by his circumstances. His physical condition was in a terrible state. He already had serious ulcers in his mouth. If he didn’t supply his body with Vitamin C as soon as possible, he wouldn’t be able to eat any longer.

Tang Yue unwrapped the compressed biscuits’ packaging which took him quite a bit of effort. The Radiant Armor’s gloves made it inconvenient for any intricate tasks.

“Where’s that darn cat? Where did it go?” Tang Yue threw a hard piece of biscuit into the empty water trough. “Where did you go… Why aren’t you back?”

He recalled the letter sent by the warlord, Qian Liu, in the Tang dynasty to his wife who had returned to visit her parents. In the letter were the words: “Flowers in bloom; I’ll be right here waiting 1.” Later critics noted that despite being short, it was infinitely elegant and that nothing could exceed such a male literary figure. If Tang Yue were to write to Tomcat, the writing would definitely be filled with deep feelings, just like Qian Liu. A few words would be enough to stir the soul.

He would write: “F**k you! Tomcat, you a**hole!”

Even though there were only four stars, all the intense feelings contained within poured out in an inundating manner.

“Tang Yue, we’ve completed a total of 5,000 satellite photos.”

“It’s really an incredible breakthrough. Congratulations on you completing 5% of everything. Any discoveries?” Tang Yue asked.

“Humph.”

After putting the six compressed biscuits into the water trough, Tang Yue needed to smash them into pieces before soaking them in water. To be honest, this was quite a waste of food. The biscuits already tasted horrendous in their original packaging. Now, by crushing them and soaking them, the taste would be unimaginable.

Tang Yue smashed the biscuits with all his might until they were in pieces. All the crumbs were caught by a plate.

After they had been completely smashed, he used a rod to crush them as much as he could before carefully pouring them into the measuring cylinder… Tang Yue could only pour a portion of the powder into the measuring cylinder because the latter had limited capacity. He also needed to leave enough space for the water. Therefore, Tang Yue decided to split the extracting of the Vitamin C into six.

“Tang Yue, do you think Tomcat’s disappearance has something to do with Earth’s disappearance?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. Earth vanished overnight. Mr. Cat also vanished overnight. Could they have vanished for the same reason?” Mai Dong suggested.

“I discussed with Tomcat the reason for Earth’s disappearance a long time ago. We didn’t manage to come to a conclusion.” Tang Yue shook his head as he gently crushed the biscuits. “It told me that to date, there is nothing within the confines of human knowledge that can make the Earth vanish silently and without any traces. Finally, we had no choice but to relegate it to some unknown natural phenomena, or some advanced extraterrestrial civilization… Are you implying that Tomcat fell into a wormhole or was abducted by aliens?”

Mai Dong fell into deep thought. Very clearly, these two theories weren’t reliable at all. They were completely established on imagination with no value for reference.

“Stop thinking nonsense. That darn cat is probably in some ditch after getting into an accident.” Tang Yue picked up the measuring cylinder, shook it vigorously and brought it close to his eyes for inspection so check that no impurities that had got in.

Tang Yue’s actions were rather cautious. He had cleaned up the garage to prevent any external objects from entering the measuring cylinder or water trough. In Kunlun Station, anything that entered the mouth needed to be strictly sterilized, but Tang Yue could no longer meet that requirement. He could only try his best to maintain the cleanliness.

Tang Yue removed the cup’s lid and poured the water into the measuring cylinder.

As the water sloshed in, the biscuit powder mixed with the water into an earthly-yellow mush that looked like mud. The starch in the compressed biscuits began to dissolve into the water while the insoluble particles were left suspended in the solution. Tang Yue gently shook the measuring cylinder to mix it well, allowing bubbles to float to the surface.

He wanted to extract the Vitamin C from the biscuits, and the only solvent he could use was water. As long as he soaked the biscuits inside for a period of time, the Vitamin C would dissolve into the water. Then, after filtering, it would be separated from the biscuits.

If such a method was used on Earth, the Vitamin C would have been oxidized by the air during the dissolving and mixing stage. It would have been impossible to extract it. However, such considerations didn’t exist on Mars. The Martian atmosphere was thin and didn’t have any oxygen, allowing the Vitamin C to be perfectly preserved.

“To be honest, I’ve previously thought of the possibilities of aliens.”

“I’ve thought of it as well. But I’ve had so many ideas. I even thought of trying to get into Tsinghua University to hook up with its school belle, but most of my ideas were just a pipe dream.” Tang Yue shook his head. “If aliens were really the ones who abducted Tomcat, there’s no need for us to search any further. By now, he might have already flown out of the Solar System.”

“Are aliens a pipe dream?” Mai Dong asked.

“When you failed your exams when you were little, would you pray for aliens to help you change your results?”

“I’ve never failed.”

Tang Yue choked. “Alright, when you split up with your ex-boyfriend, would you wish for aliens to descend to headshot that scum?”

“I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

Tang Yue choked once again. “Then, when you encounter something unlucky, such as losing a kitten or puppy, would you think that aliens were the ones behind its disappearance?”

“No.”

“There you have it.” Tang Yue threw up his hands. “Since you don’t think that aliens will abduct your dog, why would you think that aliens have abducted our cat? Besides, this is a talkative cat, the kind that people might not want even if you paid them to have it… Could it be that just because you are on Mars, there’s a higher chance of encountering alien lifeforms? If I was an alien, I’d definitely be more interested in Earth.”

“That’s why Earth vanished?” Mai Dong asked out of the blue.

Tang Yue was taken aback. The girl’s question left him shocked.

“Okay, enough of the idle chatter. I’ll be filtering the vitamin solution in a minute. Don’t disturb me.”

He placed the measuring cylinder on the floor as the turbid liquid began to separate. The insoluble solid particles slowly deposited, forming a very clear line between the liquid and the precipitate.

He carefully tilted the measuring cylinder and poured the earthly-yellow, translucent liquid into the water cup.

Following that, the measuring cylinder was left with biscuit mush that resembled mud. At this moment, the gauze came into play. Tang Yue wrapped the measuring cylinder with many layers of gauze as a filter. He then overturned it above the measuring cylinder to pour out the remaining solution.

This process was very slow. It took about an hour for all the liquid to drip down. Tang Yue didn’t have any clamping apparatus, so he had to rely on his hand. All that time he needed to maintain a fixed posture, causing his back to hurt. He had no choice but to pause for a break to stretch his limbs.

After gravity had fully pulled down all the stray liquid, there was a chunk of moist mud in the measuring cylinder… Tang Yue poured the mud onto the gauze, tied it up, and then wrapped the entire thing with a waterproof plastic sheet. Then, he pressed down hard, causing the water to drip down the plastic sheet’s hole into the cup.

Tang Yue wasn’t willing to waste any bit of water; therefore, he tried his best to squeeze out all the moisture from the biscuit mush. He squeezed it into all kinds of shapes like dough.

The final outcome was a strangely-shaped cookie, as well as 300 milliliters of brownish-yellow solution. From this outcome, Tang Yue’s efficiency was rather high. He had poured in about 300 milliliters of water and had managed to filter out 300 milliliters of Vitamin C solution. There wasn’t too much wastage. Of course, the solution not only contained Vitamin C, but also any other easily soluble ingredients in the compressed biscuits.

Tang Yue let out a long sigh of relief. His initial attempts for extraction had succeeded. If not for him being outside, preventing him from opening his visor, he might have immediately tried the taste of the muddy water.

The water trough still had a portion of biscuits. Tang Yue pumped himself up, for he wanted to extract all the Vitamin C before it was dark.